Last week’s events make it even more important that we fight the government‘s agenda of slashing the public services and wrecking our communities.

With youth unemployment at an all-time high and the vulnerable in our society being squeezed by cut after cut, no wonder many are angry.

There are statements from a variety of campaigning organisations here, here and here, and one written for a Southwark-based website here.

We have been sent details of an online petition that you might consider signing which calls for, amongst other things, an end to public sector spending cuts.

On Thursday this week, there is a public meeting in Brixton entitled “Defending our communities: The future of children and young people in Lambeth” at 6.30 pm, which is backed by Lambeth SOS and others.

Other events related to the issue of the riots, may be organised at short notice. Keep checking this page for updates.


THIS WEEK

Please come and help the 'Camberwell Needs a Jobcentre' Campaign:

Tuesday 16th August     12-1.30
Wed 17th        12-1.30
Thurs 18th         12-1.30
Meet at JCP office, Camberwell Green SE5 7AF.

Sat 20th August   1 - 3pm
Meet Butterfly Walk Shopping Centre, Camberwell SE5 8RW.

 If you can help with any of the above,  contact s.l.murdock05@gmail.com or ring 07879424631. Please sign our on line petition at petitiononline/pcslands   & send this link to your friends and colleagues.

Friday 19th August
12.00-4.00pm
‘Fighting the Cuts to our Benefits’. Discussion& organising meeting. Including the Judicial Review of Government actions in the Courts, introduced by Solicitor Ravi Low-Beer. Venue: Students Union Bar, Goldsmiths Student Union, University of London, Dixon Road, London SE14 6NW. Organised by Mental Health Resistance Network (MHRN)

Other Meetings

Tuesday 23rd August
7pm Lambeth Keep Our NHS Public Meeting at The Priory Arms, Lansdowne Way. Stockwell. SW8 2BP. It is 5 minutes from Stockwell tube (See map)

Wednesday 31st August
7pm Emergency Meeting of 'London Keep Our NHS Public'. Camden Town Hall (venue to be confirmed)

3 – 9 September
Week of action: NHS trade unions are planning local campaigning events between3 and 9 September to coincide with the Bill returning to the Commons to include lobbying MPs, holding community stalls, petition- signing and press stunts. More details to follow.

Saturday 3rd September
‘Stop the EDL in East London’. The English Defence League attempt to use racism and violence to divert opposition to cuts and austerity. Assemble from 11am, Weavers Fields, London E2 6HW. Called by Unite Against Fascism (UAF) and supported by two national trade unions, many local campaigns and Southwark UNISON (Phone 020 7525 6030 for Southwark meet-up details.)

Wednesday 7thSeptember
Candle-lit vigil for the NHS Wednesday at Houses of Parliament to mark the Third Reading of the Health & Social Care Bill. Trade unions and community groups are planning to hold vigils at local hospitals and at the offices of local MPs. NHS staff and patients will gather for a candle lit vigil outside the Houses of Parliament at the time that MPs are due to vote on the Bill. To find out more sign up at the Join the vigil for the NHS website.

Advance Notice

Sunday 11 September
1.30pm. Rally & March calling for coordinated strike action on pensions throughout the public sector. Rally at Friends Meeting House, Euston (speakers to include Mark Serwotka and Bob Crow), then a march to the TUC. Organised by the National Shop Stewards Network ( NSSN.) supported by the PCS NEC. Petition and more details here.

March Against the Lib Dems – Birmingham, Sunday 18thSeptember. Supported by the Midlands TUC and anti-cuts groups across the Midlands.

March Against the Tories – Manchester, Sunday 2ndOctober. Supported by NW Region TUC, several national campaigns and trade unions. Enquiries about transport from Southwark here.

Letter sent to South London Press for weekend edition 12 August:

As people begin to assess the causes for the events in south London in the past few days (“This is something Cops thought might happen”,  SLP 9 August) the leaders of the main political parties seem uniformly committed to both supporting the need to increase policing and just as fervently denying that ‘the cuts’ had any bearing on what has happened.  

Even if we were to ignore the police killing of Mark Duggan last week and the ongoing doubts about the role of the police in the death of local reggae artist Smiley Culture, South Londoners shouldn’t be surprised that things ‘kicked off’. We live in a country where greed is well rewarded if you’re a banker or one of the 1,000 richest people whose fortunes increased by £333 billion last year alone. If you’re one of the forty people chasing every job vacancy in Peckham & Camberwell –and soon not even a Job Centre to visit if the planned closure of the Camberwell office goes through – getting into employment is three times as difficult as it was 12 months ago. And they say ‘the cuts’ haven’t made a difference!

For those who are saying that it is family breakdown and community support that allows riotous behaviour, can anyone really believe that south London boroughs cutting 20% from early years’ intervention schemes is going to help? Or that the recent scrapping of two anti social behaviour projects by Southwark Council will help communities devastated by high unemployment?  Cuts have made things worse, and they will get worse still unless we challenge those politicians who are prepared to justify cuts when the finance sector in the City of London is awash with money.

Those of us who remember the riots of the 1980s will also recall that those involved were branded as ‘mere criminals’ just as many of the student protesters demonstrating against the withdrawal of the Educational Maintenance Allowance and tripling of Tuition fees were last winter. The people involved in the events of the past week may or may not have considered their actions ‘political’ but one thing is certain, it is the politicians who need to provide the funding, resources and the employment that is needed, and it’s everyone’s job to campaign against them when they try to cut these things.

Chris Kelly

Secretary, Southwark save Our Services campaign

THIS WEEK 30 JULY

Today onwards

Make your protest against the plan to close Camberwell Jobcentre ! Details here. There is an online petition to sign or write to your local MP. For enquiries about the local campaign and to offer practical help with leafleting, etc. contact 07879424631 or email here <s.l.murdock05@gmail.com>.

Saturday 30 July

12 noon - 3pm

Croydon vs Banks & Tax Dodgers. Organised by Croydon Uncut

Assembling at Whitgift Centre entrance, opposite the Centrale Shopping Centre, North End, Croydon (5 min walk from West or East Croydon Rail or Bus Station).

Sunday 31 July
12 noon - 4pm

London 'Love Our Parks' Picnic at Parliament: A call for the protection, resources and management they deserve – NO to cuts! At Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank, London, SW1P 3JA.  Bring a picnic to share. Organised by the London Green Spaces Friends Groups Network - LFGN . Supported by the National Federation of Parks & Green Spaces and the London Tenants Federation.

Monday 1 August

12.30pm

Demonstration against the Health Bill when Health Minister Andrew Lansley will be at the Royal Hospital Farnborough, Bromley BR6 8ND from 1 to 1.45pm to open the new stroke unit (which we are not against!).  Assemble at car park entrance to Hospital near Sainsbury’s.

Supported by local Trades Councils and Greenwich, Lewisham, Southwark & Lambeth KONP groups. For further details contact Frances Hook Tel: 020 8853 2567

………………………………………………………….

Advance Notice:

Sunday 11 September

1.30pm. Rally & March calling for coordinated strike action on pensions throughout the public sector.  Rally at Friends Meeting House, Euston (speakers to include Mark Serwotka and Bob Crow), then a march to the TUC. Organised by the National Shop Stewards Network ( NSSN.) supported by the PCS NEC. Petition and more details here .

March Against the Lib Dems – Birmingham, Sunday 18^th September. Supported by the Midlands TUC and anti-cuts groups across the Midlands.

March Against the Tories – Manchester, Sunday 2^nd October. Supported by NW Region TUC, several national campaigns and trade unions. Enquiries about transport from Southwark here  southwarksos@gmail.com < southwarksos@gmail.com>.

Follow us!

www.southwarksaveourservices.blogspot.com/

Twitter @southwarkSOS

Facebook: please note new Facebook group is now “Southwark SSOS”

Are you part of a community group or campaign?

We’d like to hear from you. Tell us what you’re doing and we can advertise your anti-cuts campaign activities. Email us at southwarksos@gmail.com

Support Mass UCU Lobby at LSBU 14JULY

Members of the lecturers' union, UCU, at London South Bank University (LSBU) are asking for your support at a mass lobby of the Board of Governors meeting, calling on the university to reverse its decision to withdraw from national pay bargaining. The lobby will take place on Thursday 14 July, from 3.00pm onwards outside the university (South Bank Technopark) in London Rd, SE1.

BACKGROUND 

LSBU is the first university to pull out of national pay negotiations, threatening to undercut our wages and inhibit future staff recruitment. Already, incomes for staff at LSBU now lag behind other universities. 

But this local dispute also has national significance: the government’s marketization of Higher Education, which is happening at break-neck speed, will be made infinitely easier if national bargaining disappears. Incomes and wider terms of employment across the whole of higher education will then be under even greater threat. 

We have taken strike action to put pressure on the Board of Governors to reverse its decision – on 29 June lecturers' work inside the university was at a virtual standstill. Not only was the strike well-supported,  50 members joined the picket lines, but messages of support came from across the country and the trade union movement - including branches of the FBU, RMT, NUT, PCS, UNITE, UNISON, and POA. 

COME ALONG AND SUPPORT US! 

The Board of Governors meeting on Thursday 14 July provides the next opportunity for UCU members to make their point. We welcome support from local trade unions and campaign and anti-cuts groups at our lobby. If you can't attend, messages of support would be very welcome, sent to buddam19612002@yahoo.co.uk 

LSBU UCU Branch Co-ordinating Committee

 Lobby

Thursday 14 July

3.00pm onwards

South Bank Technopark, London Rd, SE1 6LN

WHY IS 30 JUNE SO IMPORTANT?

Four trade unions will strike on Thursday 30 June, involving 800,000 people.

They are trying to stop a government plan for millions of people to pay higher pension contributions, work longer and receive a lot less when they retire. 

They will be joined by council workers in Birmingham, Doncaster and Southampton who are also striking to stop cuts to jobs and services.

Many activities are planned to make Thursday a success. 
We explain below why your support is vital.

This is what you can do:

Send a message of support to people on strike. Jobcentres, courts, police stations, government buildings, museums, college & university buildings and some schools will all have people out on strike, and many will have picket-lines – send them cards, visit them, let them know you support them, hoot your car/bike if you see them, etc.  Stop and talk!

You or your workmates, friends or neighbours could send a card or letter to: Southwark Trades Union Council c/o 19 Spa Road SE16 3SA - or email a message to southwarktuc@ gmail.com

Come to Southbank University at the Elephant & Castle at 9am on Thursday.  Teachers, parents, government workers and university staff will gather  there before setting off at 10.30 am to march up to a national demonstration at Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

Join the thousands of people who will demonstrate in central London, leaving Lincoln’s Inn Fields (close to Holborn Tube) and heading for a lunchtime rally at Westminster.

This is a battle for everyone

This government does not represent the majority. We didn’t vote for smashing health and welfare services. We didn’t vote for them to steal our pensions.

Make the government collect the £120 billion owed by the rich in unpaid taxes: cutting benefits, jobs and services is an unjust outrage. 

Four reasons to support this week’s public sector strikes

1.  The government is lying

They say public sector workers have gold-plated pensions

FACT: the average public sector pension is less than £5,000 a year

FACT: a quarter of civil servants get less than £2,000 a year - £40 a week

How can people live on that when living costs are so high, and rising?

They say the pension schemes are too expensive, and ‘in crisis’

FACT: the ‘black hole’ they talk about is a myth. They base their predictions on the CURRENT number of people reaching pensionable age, but this number will FALL for several decades, after the current ‘baby boom’ generation

They say public sector pension schemes aren’t financially viable

FACT: the government’s own National Audit Office said says the teachers’ pension scheme is self-financing! So why tell them to pay 50% more in contributions?

2.   We are not ‘all in this together’

The average pension for the UK’s largest company heads is £330,000 a year. These pensions will not be cut.

During the first year of the Con-Dem government, the personal wealth of the 1,000 richest individuals in this country INCREASED by £60 billion.

Con-Dems aim to use public sector pension contributions to off-set the ‘debt’, money to bail out the banks that caused the problems in the first place!

3.  If the strikes WIN, ALL of us will benefit

If the Government gets its way, it won’t give one penny extra to private sector pensions. Those schemes were starved by employers taking ‘pensions holidays’ during the so-called ‘boom years’ – boosting their profits at our expense. Winning the battle for public sector pensions means workers in the private sector can demand more. Let’s level pensions UP, not reduce everyone to poverty.

If public sector workers have to work 8 years more to get pensions, how will young people find jobs? Can a 68 year-old teacher teach with the same energy as a 28-year old?

4.  Striking now is now our only option

The government is playing at ‘negotiations’. This week’s ITV poll shows most people agree with us. Stopping work for one day is nowhere near as disruptive as years of cutbacks , low morale and unemployment.

30 JUNE PICKETS

Universities and Colleges:
Southbank, London College of Communication, Southwark College, Camberwell Arts College.
Job Centres:  
Peckham, London Bridge and Camberwell
Government: Skipton Hse (by Bakerloo Tube, E&C), EHRC (Tooley St, eastern end near Southwark Council Offices, 9-12 o/c), New Kings Beam Hse (by Blackfriars Bridge), Rose Court (by Southwark Bridge), Wellington Hse (Waterloo Road nr Old Vic), Crown Court (opp HMS Belfast), Imperial War Museum (Lambeth Road), Camberwell Court ( nr the Green), Magistrates (Newington Causeway) and local police stations.
Schools: Contact the NUT office at union@SouthwarkNUT.org.uk


London Protest
Starts assembling at Lincon’s Inn Fields, Holborn at 11am (Unions will leave London Southbank 10.30).
March to rally in Westminster Central Hall.

Striking to defend our pensions

JOINT-UNIONS PUBLIC MEETING

FOR TRADE UNIONISTS AND SUPPORTERS

Striking to defend our pensions

Support the action!

Stop the pensions robbery!

7pm Wednesday 15 June

Speakers:

Sally Hunt – General Secretary UCU,

Martin Powell Davis - NUT Exec,

Zita Holbourne – PCS Exec. & Co-Chair BARAC,

Denise Nicholls, Southwark Pensioners’ Action Group

                 

ITF House

49-60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DR

(next to Duke of York Pub)

PCS and Unite members on strike tomorrow at London Bridge

Monday 6 June 11.30 – 2 pm PCS and Unite members have voted to take part in joint strike action on Monday 6 June and we would be delighted if Southwark SOS peeps in the London Bridge area are able to drop by to show your support.  The official strike is between 11.30am-12.30pm and we will stay on into the lunch break to allow others to join us.  The London Office picket will be at the back of our offices on Tooley Street , opposite Southwark Council, City Hall bus stop, nearest tube London Bridge